Online Graduate Instruction: What Faculty Consider Reasonable In Relation to What Students Expect

In this investigation, the author utilized a modified Delphi technique to validate whether graduate level online faculty and learners could achieve a consensus of opinion relative to a range of instructional practices commonly associated with online education. A list of administrative guidelines pertaining to online instruction collected from an assortment of post-secondary institutions in the United States was examined by participants to address whether a consensus could be established between what online faculty and online students perceived as important instructional practices in online delivery. The findings of this study offer insight into how administratively driven instructional practices in the areas of Communication, Presence & Engagement, and Timeliness/Responsiveness relate to the expectations of online learners, and the realisms of online faculty.